No way have men won the gender war. Things are wildly out of balance.
CHOICE
Although women have far more contraceptive choices than men (men have condoms, abstinence, or invasive surgery), men are deemed at least as responsible as women are when an unwanted pregnancy occurs. However, women have the entire say in whether to get an abortion and have much easier access to adoption or safe-haven abandonment. As a result, when unwanted pregnancies occur, either by accident or when men are lied to about birth control or fertility, women can surrender their parental rights and responsibilities, but men cannot. Choice For Men, as a matter of gender equity and to reduce unwanted births by removing some of the financial incentives for having them, would give men a limited time after being notified of a pregnancy to surrender their parental rights and responsibilities.
PATERNITY FRAUD
Paternity fraud is the false identification of a man as a child’s biological father. The American Association of Blood Banks reports that, out of 300,000 DNA paternity tests performed annually, 30% exclude the man as the biological dad. Over 70% of paternity judgments in L.A. County are obtained by default. (“Examining Child Support Arrears in California; The Collectibility Study,” 3/03, p. 16.) Many of these men are inadequately served or respond late due to language barriers, mental disabilities, fear, or mistaken belief that they do not have to respond because the child is not theirs. They often first learn of a paternity judgment when their wages are attached or their driving privileges are suspended. By then it can be too late. Even if DNA excludes them, they can still be forced to pay support, despite having families of their own to feed. Military men are particular targets of paternity fraud because of the benefits they carry.
In 2004, we helped pass a law to protect paternity fraud victims (AB 252, enacting Family Code § 7646 et seq.). While this law is helpful, it is not enough. Judges still have discretion to force a man to pay even after DNA excludes him as the biological father, and many men still find themselves trapped by the existing two-year deadline to challenge a paternity judgment from the time they “knew or should have known” of it. If they are late by one day, they are locked in with no escape, and courts have no discretion to relieve them. Stronger laws and more public education are needed to combat this problem.
